PKL 9: Defending champions Dabang Delhi set to commence new season against U Mumba

The season can only start in a tremendous way.

Defending champions of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Dabang Delhi K.C. will be up against season 2 champions U Mumba in the first match of the much-awaited season 9 of the Pro Kabaddi League which is set to start from 7th October in Bengaluru. Delhi will have a new captain in the form of young raider Naveen Kumar while Mumba will be led by defender Surinder Singh. Both sides would be looking to start the tournament on a winning note on the opening day of PKL 9.

Head to head

Dabang Delhi will start favourites despite their poor head to head record against U Mumba. In previous 18 encounters between the two sides Mumba has won 12 games while Delhi has won just 5 games. 1 game ended in a tie. 

Dabang Delhi Squad: 

Raiders: Naveen Kumar, Manjeet, Ashu Malik, Ashish Narwal, Suraj Panwar

Defenders: Ravi Kumar, Sandeep Dhull, Amit Hooda, Vishal, Anil Kumar, Monu, Dipak, Krishan, Vinay Kumar, Vijay, Mohammad Liton Ali, Aakash

All-rounders: Vijay, Tejas Patil, Reza Katoulinezhad

U Mumba Squad: 

Raiders: Guman Singh, Ashish, Heidarali Ekrami, Jai Bhagwan Ankush, Kamlesh, Shivam, Pranay Rane, Sachin, Rupesh

Defenders: Rinku, Surinder Singh, Harendra Kumar, Shivansh Thakur, Prince, Kiran Magar, Rahul, Satywan, Mohit

All-Rounders: Gholamabbas Korouki

Key players to watch out:

Raiding:

Delhi has retained the core of their raiding department from last season as the responsibility of raiding will once again be on Naveen Kumar and Vijay while for Mumba the young Guman Singh will have to shoulder much of the raiding responsibility. 

Defense:

As far as defense is concerned Mumba will bank on the pair of Surinder and Harendra while Delhi will depend on Amit Hooda and Sandeep Dull. 

Key to success:

Delhi will hope that Naveen Kumar performs as per expectations on the other hand Mumba would bank on their defense to stop the Dabang Delhi raiders. 

Player to watch out for:

Ashish from U Mumba is one player to watch out for in the game. He did well in the limited opportunities he got as a raider for Haryana Steelers in season 8. Also, He can contribute in defense as well. He will surely be getting more opportunities at Mumba than he got with the Steelers. While for Delhi all eyes will be on Ashu Malik. He scored 58 raid points in season 8. 

Did you know:

An interesting fact to note is that even Naveen Kumar scored 3 tackle points last season. But Naveen would hope that he isn't needed in defense so that he can focus on his primary job. 

Telecast details:

You can call all the live action on Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar from 7:30 PM on October 7.